Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 186: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will exclude cigarettes and other tobacco products from the basket of items from which the Consumer Price Index is presently calculated as recommended by the Joint Health Committee in its report A National Anti-Smoking Strategy a report on smoking published in November 1999. [17789/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Director General of the Central Statistics Office has sole responsibility for, and is independent in, deciding the statistical methodology and professional standards to be used in compiling the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Deciding what items are included in the basket and goods and service is a matter for him. The CSO currently publishes a CPI figure excluding Tobacco every month. The best measure of underlying inflation is the EU comparable measure of inflation, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP).